Several hours later, Roxanne laid in the infirmary, still unconscious from von Esens' Conqueror's Haki and still injured from her fight with Corcoran. Puerco sat next to her, monitoring her vitals, as well as Schwarz's. She slowly began to stir.

"…! Roxanne!" Puerco said.

"Hm…? Puerco…?"

She suddenly shot up. "Puerco! Where's Andy?!"

Puerco lowered his head, unable to say anything. Roxanne grabbed him by the collar, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I said, WHERE'S ANDY?!"

Puerco stood up and simply said, "follow me."

Roxanne did as she was told, getting out of bed. She stumbled a bit, but she readjusted herself, rubbing her belly where the stab wound was.

Puerco walked into the ship's morgue, where dead bounties were usually kept, attached to the infirmary.

"No…" Roxanne thought, tears streaming down her face.

Puerco opened the door and pulled out the drawer. And there it was, Andy's chilled, dead body with a massive, gaping hole in his chest.

Roxanne couldn't contain herself. She let out a guttural wail that echoed throughout the Humo Robinson, and she broke down sobbing on Andy's corpse.

"ANDY! ANDY WHY?!"

The entire incident flashed in her eyes. Rusila, so cheerfully choosing someone from the crowd, then brutally ramming her fist through Andy's chest, then smiling at Roxanne as if nothing had happened.

Puerco said and did nothing as Roxanne sobbed her eyes out and screamed until she was hoarse. It seemed like hours that Roxanne did nothing but cry and scream, but in reality it was only about 45 minutes.

After nearly an hour of crying, she stood up and said nothing for a good fifteen minutes. She just looked at Andy's corpse, looking at every detail: the gaping hole in his chest, the look of abject terror and pain on his face. She stood there, then turned around and walked away without saying a word.

A five-year-old Roxanne hid behind her mother's skirt. Her mother chuckled and said "it's okay, Roxanne. You can come out."

"Nahaha! You're shy!" five-year-old Andy laughed.

Young Andy ran over and gave her a hug. "We're friends now! I'll show you around the island, Roxie!"

"R-Roxanne…?" Puerco asked.

Five-year-old Andy brought Roxanne to the beach. Sapphire-shell turtles crawled up onto the shore to lay their eggs.

"They're… so pretty…" said young Roxanne, clutching her doll.

"Mmhmm! They come by once a year! Mommy says that's why they call this place Blue Turtle Island!" Andy replied.

She said nothing and kept walking. As she walked, she pulled out her hip flask and chugged the whole thing.

"I think… I think I wanna start a restaurant," said sixteen-year-old Andy.

"Oh, I just love your cooking!" said sixteen-year-old Roxanne. "You cook even better than dad!"

"And… maybe we could work together," Andy said with a smile. "You could serve drinks."

"You mean… like, booze?" Roxanne asked. "I've… never tried it before."

"Naha! My parents have a secret stash of sake hidden in the pantry! Let's try it tomorrow night after both our parents go to bed!"

Roxanne reached the galley and started digging through the pantry. Without a word, she grabbed a huge bottle of 100 proof Panda whiskey, then a highball glass, and sat down at a table.

"Nahaha…" sixteen-year-old Andy chuckled as he poured a cup for himself, then one for Roxanne. They sat together on a blanket in an empty field, surrounded by a few trees here and there.

"You sure this is a good idea, Andy?" Roxanne asked.

"Of course! This is the kinda stuff we're supposed to do as teenagers!" Andy replied.

The time passed in a flash, and soon it was an hour later. The moon was high in the sky.

Andy hiccuped and his face was flushed red. "Nahaha… how… how're ya feelin'…? Roxie…?"

Roxanne's face was also bright red. "I feel… awesome… Andy." She hiccuped too.

"Hey…" she said.

"Yeah…?"

"I thought of something else teenagers are supposed to do…" Roxanne said with a sly smile on her face.

"What…" he hiccuped. "What's that, Roxie?"

She threw himself at him, and they started to kiss passionately. Soon, the sake bottle was knocked over, but neither of them cared.

She poured herself a glass, and chugged it. Then, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up.

"Hey, Roxie?" twenty-one-year-old Andy asked as they stood on the beach at sunset, hand in his pocket.

"What's up, Andy?"

"Well… y'know how we've been friends since we were tiny, tiny kids?" Andy asked, starting to sweat.

Roxanne blushed. "Y-yeah…?"

"I… wanna keep doing that until we're dead."

He pulled out a ring with a tiny sapphire from one of the sapphire turtles embedded in it.

"I know it's not much, but… I love you, Roxie…"

He dropped to one knee. "Will… will you be my wife?"

Roxanne looked at him. Tears began streaming down her face.

"Of course I will, Andy! I love you too!"

For thirty minutes, she did nothing but chug whiskey and chain smoke. Shaska came and sat next to her.

"Hey…" Shaska said.

Roxanne said nothing, and chugged her glass of whiskey. The huge bottle was already three quarters empty, despite starting at full. Roxanne showed no outward signs of being drunk, despite having chugged over seventy ounces of whiskey in half an hour.

"Hey, King of Pain, you there?" Shaska asked, snapping her fingers in front of Roxanne's face.

Roxanne still said nothing.

"I didn't know you smoked," Shaska said.

Again, Roxanne said nothing, and chugged another glass of whiskey.

"Well, listen, it's been a rough day for all of us. Why don't you make us a round of drinks?"

Roxanne stopped drinking and looked up.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You know, what I pay you for? We took a huge loss back there," Shaska responded.

Roxanne felt her blood begin to boil. Without even thinking, she squeezed the glass in her hand. Then she squeezed harder. And harder. And harder. Until finally the glass shattered in her hand. She turned to Shaska, rage of a demon in her eyes.

"I just lost my husband! The love of my life since we were children! BRUTALLY MURDERED RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES! And what's your main concern?! 'Hey, Roxanne, why don't you make me a drink?!' Except you didn't say that! Because in the month we've been together, you STILL don't know my name and keep calling me random bullshit!"

She puffed her cigarette, then continued her rant. Her anger could be felt by everyone on the Robinson. The crew (except Schwarz, who was still unconscious) slowly gathered in the galley to see what was going on. Shaska couldn't help but be taken aback.

"Honest to God, I can't believe you! I remember when we first met that you said you were bad with grieving families, and you know what? You were right! I can't believe how obnoxious you are! You didn't even care that someone just died, you just saw him as a lost business venture! Those old employees were right about you, you're a terrible boss! You don't know any of our names! 'Hey, snake girl! Hey, pretty boy! Hey, random name that doesn't make any sense that isn't Roxanne!'

"I'm sick of it! I can't believe I let you get away with this for so long! You… you… you don't care about anyone but yourself! Everything is just a vehicle to make money for you! And the worst part? I'm stuck with you! I can't go anywhere else because I don't know how to sail or fight! I'm just a normal woman in a world full of superpowered weirdos! I… I…"

She broke down sobbing again. Lulupo walked over and held her.

"I… I haven't known life without Andy for twenty years… I'm so… I'M SO LOST WITHOUT HIM!"

"Roxie, darling, I'm so-" Lulupo tried to say.

"SHUT UP! ONLY ANDY'S ALLOWED TO CALL ME THAT!" Roxanne shouted. She continued to sob.

Shaska sat there and blew smoke. After thinking for a moment, she asked "you wanna learn how to fight?"

Roxanne sobbed a bit more, then finally looked up and said "huh?"

"I asked, 'do you wanna learn how to fight?'"

"What?" Roxanne asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I bet you want revenge against that girl who was with that king guy, right?" Shaska said. "Well, you can't do that unless you learn how to fight."

"Wh-what…?"

Shaska grabbed the whiskey bottle and chugged what was left of it. "No more booze for now, it's messing with your brain."

She puffed on her cigar.

"Normally, I'd fire you on the spot for yelling at me like that, girl. But I need as much muscle as I can get these days if I wanna put the hurt on the suits at Kemurchant corporate. So, let's do business. You help me, I'll help you."

"I…"

"I'll teach you how to use Haki, and maybe some Fishman Karate too. If we're going to Fishman Island, we should stop at the dojo."

Roxanne's eyes started welling up with tears again.

"Listen, you calm down a bit, and then come meet me in my room, 'kay?"

Shaska got up and left. The rest of the crew were confused about what just happened.

—

At the World Government capital, the Holy Land of Marie Jois, the Five Elders who controlled the World Government called an emergency meeting in a pure white room with green furniture. One wore a hat and had a scar on his face, with a white beard and dreadlocks. One was a tall, thin man with long, white hair and a big, bushy white mustache and beard. One was bald with a large birthmark on his head, also with a bushy white mustache. One was younger-looking, with pale blond hair and a beard. The last was bald, with no facial hair and carried a katana. All but the last was dressed in a sharp black suit; the last was dressed in a pure white gi.

"So… Balthasar von Esens has returned after twenty years," said the bald one with the mustache.

"I told you all he would return!" shouted the bald one with the sword. "Criminals of that caliber don't just disappear for good!"

"This is bad… not only did he successfully conquer the Panipuri Kingdom, the Marines that were sent there to catch Shaska the Greedy turned tail and ran," said the younger-looking one.

"I admit, it was a mistake to let him go the first time. But after he shrugged off an admiral and a squad of battleships, there was little more we could do but pray he wouldn't rear his head again," said the tall one. "So much trouble, for someone who doesn't even carry the Will of D."

"Then I think we all agree a bounty must be issued for his head immediately," said the one with white dreadlocks. "Unlike Dragon and the Revolutionary Army, von Esens and Minus World have already made their move. We'll send a fleet of ships to reconquer the island as soon as he leaves."

—-

Early the next morning, Roxanne sobered up (in more ways than one). She went to the galley and started filling her flask with more whiskey.

"It… it really wasn't just a bad dream…" she thought aloud, looking at her wedding ring. She flashed back to Andy's proposal, followed by their wedding… followed by his death.

Tears streamed down her face, but she shook her head and sobered up a bit. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and headed up to the deck, sipping from her hip flask the entire time.

The newspaper was on the deck, and naturally, the paper's front page story was about the war in the Panipuri Kingdom and its subsequent conquest by Balthasar von Esens and Minus World. She opened it up, and the new wanted posters fell out. Her jaw dropped when she saw the prices for the Balthasar family's heads.

Roxanne ran up to Shaska's room and pounded on the door. Shaska poked her head out, face covered in green goo with huge cucumber slices over her eyes.

"The hell d'you want, bar girl? The sun literally just rose!"

"Shaska, you gotta see this! Huge profits!"

Shaska pulled off one of the cucumber slices and ate it, then said "come in."

As Shaska laid back down on her bed, Roxanne walked over and showed her the wanted posters.

"Black Knight" Balthasar von Esens - 5,224,700,000 berries

"Princess" Balthasar von Rusila - 2,914,000,000 berries

"Liberation Soldier" Sirhan Princip - 892,000,000 berries

Shaska's eyes turned into berry signs at the sight of this, and coins started pouring out of her mouth. Roxanne was understandably confused as to how this happened, and quietly lined her pockets with some coins.

"Hee hee hee… bar girl, vengeance is gonna make us a lot of money…" Shaska said, eyes turning back to normal. "This guy's worth more than Whitebeard! Almost as much as Gold Roger in his heyday!"

"You… you mean?"

"We're gonna bring these clowns in! That'll teach the government not to mess with us, and pay off my debt, AND give you the closure you deserve!" Shaska declared, lighting up a cigar. She then reached into her nightstand and pulled out a key.

"But first, I got a little present for you…" she said.

Shaska got out of bed and went exploring under it. After moving some stuff around, she emerged carrying a locked box.

"I was gonna sell this eventually… but I think you could make better use of it."

She unlocked the box and opened it in front of Roxanne. Inside was what looked like a pair of cherries with black swirls on them.

"Is that…?" Roxanne asked.

"That's right," said Shaska. "It's a Devil Fruit. I don't know what it does, but hopefully it'll help you make me money… and I guess get your revenge on that creepy princess girl."

Roxanne took the fruit out of the box and looked at it. She held it in her hand and thought about the myriad of abilities it could grant. Maybe it could turn her into a carnivorous dinosaur, or allow her to shoot fire from her hands… or it could do something useless, like make her rubber.

"We don't got all day, bar girl," said Shaska, wiping the goo off her face.

Roxanne looked at the fruit and slowly brought it up to her mouth. She took a tiny bite and swallowed… then immediately grimaced at the awful, awful taste of the thing.

"Well…?" Shaska asked.

"Well, I think it's about the worst thing I've ever eaten," Roxanne responded.

Shaska blew smoke in her face and said "the power, bar girl! The power!"

Roxanne focused… but nothing happened.

"I… I don't know what to do…" she said.

"Hmm… oh well!" Shaska exclaimed.

"Oh well?!" Roxanne asked, incensed.

"Kid, I don't know anything about Devil Fruits. You're gonna have to ask one of the pretty boys about it," Shaska said, puffing on her cigar.

Roxanne put her hands on her hips, annoyed.

"Well… thanks, anyway."

She turned to leave.

"And… well, I'd say I'm sorry for yesterday, but I meant every word I said. You can be a real bitch sometimes."

She pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. "I'll ask Lulupo about it when he wakes up. Right now, I'm gonna start breakfast. I know how to cook a little, not… as good as Andy… but I can manage."

She started to walk away, but Shaska called out to her.

"Bar girl, wait! I mean… Roxanne."

This made Roxanne stop dead.

"So, you do know my name?" she asked, turning around.

"It's…" Shaska began. "It's complicated. But… for the sake of good business relations between us… I guess I could tell you what happened."

Roxanne blew some smoke.

"I'm listening."

TO BE CONTINUED